Hit the button

Like this:

SEVENTY TWO holes, 20 miles, 15 hours and over 350 golf shots in a single day – competing against clubs nationwide in The Longest Day.

Last year saw over 3,000 teams cross the UK sign up to play 72 holes of golf in just one day, and raise £1.5 million for people affected by cancer.

This year the aim is to smash that total and raise even more money to help Macmillian continue to support people affected by cancer, from diagnosis, through treatment and beyond, ensuring no one faces cancer alone.

Which is why twenty barking/barmy golfers are teeing off at 4.30am on 29th July 2017at Wimbledon Park Golf Club, and taking on this epic challenge.

There are now an estimated 2.5 million people living with cancer in the UK. This number has grown by an extra 400,000 people in the last five years. It is projected to rise to 4 million people in the year 2030.

Fifteen hours spent trudging around a golf course on repeat enduring blisters and backache is frankly small change compared to what this disease brings.

What the hell is atomic coral I pondered quietly to myself while the debate raged on over the colour of my new golf sweater?

IJP DESIGN

If an item of clothing can generate such unexpected interest among ladies golfers, imagine the enthusiasm levels when a package marked Ian Poulter Autumn Winter Collection was delivered by the postie for my attention.

IJP Design, the high-end golf clothing brand founded by the Ryder Cup star strikes a balance between function, femininity and flair. As one might expect, his wide range of quality garments does not conform to your average pro-shop assortment. It is more exciting high performance clothing without being outlandish.

Before excessive rainfall seemingly closed most golf courses in the UK, I had the opportunity to review his sporty mix and match collection. If the key to modern-golf apparel is layering, Poulter has mastered the art of providing unrestricted freedom of movement during the golf swing. Read More

Like this:

There’s an old line about bottled water being twice as expensive as petrol per litre, which is true when purchased in small quantities.

This month it was revealed that milk in the UK is now cheaper to buy than bottled water thanks to a fierce supermarket war.

The price per litre of milk, when bought in a four-pint bottle, has dipped to 43p, compared to 44p for bottled still water.

Keep that number in mind the next time you wander into a golf pro shop in search of mineral water.

Because that’s exactly what I did over several balmy weeks when my Wimbledon golf course was closed and transformed into Britain’s most expensive car park while the country endured the hottest month on record.

As the mercury clocked 36.7C, roads melted, train tracks buckled and weather map turned a rainbow hue of very hot reds and purples … I stepped out to play golf in Surrey.

No one likes a judgemental nitpicker. No one more so than the (non-self appointed) navigator of a 250-plus mile journey from Londontown into neighbouring France.

Our driver had been hit on route by some rather somber news and was in an understandable state of mourning. The other was strangely arranged across the back seat, blissfully unaware of her surrounds and absorbed in the latest lifestyle review section of the Daily Telegraph. I wouldn’t have minded so much but I’m more of a Times of London kind of girl.

And so it was that I, a fresh faced young slip of a thing from the colonies, ended up with the weighty yet reluctant task of delivering our Press Golfing Society trio from England to take on the Northcliffe Society at Golf de Belle Dune on Promenade du Marquenterre in Fort Mahon. Ranked I’m told amongst the 10 finest French courses – but more about that later.

I have a friend. He is a veteran golf writer, master of the English language and one of life’s fiercest critics when it comes to all things clichés. Not surprisingly this makes for dangerous ground since he not only frequents Golfmadchick.com, but as regular readers will know, this is a blog positively riddled with these vulgar, over-used, meaningless fillers.

According to him I am forbidden from using the words: picturesque, shrouded, idyllic, must see, etc. But since I have itchy feet and this blog is going somewhat off the beaten track, my January short sunshine break can only be described as, wait for it … a hidden gem! Read More

Like this:

It’s midday and I am lying in bed with more drugs raging through my system than an aging rocker on a day trip to Pfizer’s world-renowned research lab. I have acute bronchitis. It is day eight. I wouldn’t mind so much, but it‘s the second bout in two months and what’s worse … it’s my office Christmas party tonight.

While friends and colleagues are reaching for their most festive bib and tucker, the postman is attempting to deliver yet another box of golf shoes through the front door. Only trouble is, every time I attempt a get-out-of-bed vertical manoeuvre, a drug induced head spin kicks in, resulting in an unseemly coughing fit which upsets the predictably unruffled pooch next door and drives our once hardcore postie to seek sanctuary at number 130. Read More

Like this:

Dubbed the Blitz of Biarritz, it quickly plummeted into Blitzed in Biarritz, as two competing societies The Press Golfing Society (PGS) and the Association de la Presse et du Golf (APG) thrashed it out for the 24th Wryter Cupin France.

Hosted by Golf de Chantaco in the charming coastal town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a dozen miles south of Biarritz and close to the Spanish border, it is one of the most famous courses in the Basque country with exceptional views of the Pyrenees. Read More

Europe and the US are ready for battle in golf’s Ryder Cup. Oh, and Ukip leader Nigel Farage has popped up in a pretty cool Paddy Power ad for the contest too.

The world is a precarious place. Britain may be at war by the weekend. Scotland is more divided than ever before. The Queen is not amused with our prime minister. The leader of the opposition forgot the deficit. And now, Ukip’s Eurosceptic chief Nigel Farage has come out swinging in support of Europe (see video). Read More

Like this:

In my experience heterosexual males are lousy at remembering birthdays. Facebook and Twitter has helped occasionally attract their attention to your really big day and nothing can beat persistent vocal reminders along the lines of, ‘I really can’t believe that next month I shall actually be 40.’

The combination of these three prompted one of my male colleagues to come up with a surprisingly bright idea, although I strongly suspect that he was really angling to celebrate his birthday which also ended in a nought, only in his case the big six-oh. Read More

Like this:

It is the greatest sport in the world and after a year of intense preparation and anticipation, it has finally arrived. That’s right, golf’s US Open kicks off today.

Four nail-biting rounds of Major Championship golf featuring all the tantalizing drama, meltdowns, memories, heartache, last day gallops and shock victories.

Forget the World Cup frenzy, its US Open fever gripping the Channel 4 News communications department as the world’s best players take on the sand hills of North Carolina. I wasn’t expecting fist-pumping levels of fanfare from golf-mad colleagues, more a gentle surge in sporting enthusiasm. Frankly the opposite was closer to reality.

Like this:

“Your mother has cancer” … Ironically four little words that almost killed me. It was the deluge of tears that made for poor visibility as I sprinted out of the newsroom and across Gray’s Inn Road while furiously Googling: ‘Mum has breast cancer what do I do?’ which resulted in a face-first near miss with the 341 bus. Read More

Hit the button

Like this:

It all started off so promisingly as the young man in a bow tie rushed up to me in the car park. “Miss Barlow” he shrieked, arms outstretched in my direction. “Welcome to Mid Ocean Golf Club, the jewel in Bermuda’s golf crown.”

Wow! What a welcome I thought, looking startled and vaguely bemused. I tried to deduce if this was the typically friendly Bermuda way, an over excitable PR executive or someone I had met at The Swizzle Inn after one too many Dark and Stormy cocktails. Read More

Like this:

England is under water. My golf course resembles a swamp and it’s been over three months since I’ve swung something called a golf club. Until that moment returns when I have worked out which end of the stick to hold again, my blog is venturing into new areas. For now I’ve abandoned the sodden shores of the UK for sun kissed Isle Maurice. Mauritius to you and I. Read More